Tip of the Week: How to make a simple matter budget
2 min read

Tip of the Week: How to make a simple matter budget

Free on-demand webinar

How to Get Clients to Pay On Time: 15 Tips in 15 Minutes!

Watch Now

Recommended by

ForbesAdvisor - The Best Legal Billing Software Of 2022

Learn How You Can Get More Reviews For Your Law Firm

Download free guide
Table of contents
2
3
Share:
2 min read

Can you raise your right hand and swear that you have a budget for every matter you work on? Do you know within reason exactly how much time or fees it will take to satisfy your client? Or, what if you’ve negotiated a certain cap with a client so the invoice will never go over a certain amount? With all these scenario’s TimeSolv can help and with our Tip of the Week, you’ll learn how to create a simple matter budget.

When viewing a new matter you’ve created, you’ll notice a tab labeled Budget. This is where we’re going to spend our time. You’ll notice you can set the billing arrangements, what triggers a billing event and what to budget by. For most firms, the defaults will work just fine.

Below that, you’ll see where you can enter the budgeted number for the hours, fees, expenses and invoice. There will also be an option to check a box for each one of these labeled Prevent Hours (or Fees or Expenses or Invoice) Exceeding Budget. What this means is that if you leave the box unchecked for that category and exceed what you budgeted, you’ll receive a yellow warning notice at the top of the screen telling you that you may have exceeded your budget. If you do check the box to prevent exceeding budget, you will not be able to create an entry if it puts you over budget for that area. You will see a red warning notice and you will be unable to complete the entry until you’ve edited the budget.

This means that no timekeeper will exceed the budget allocated for the matter.

This also means if you’ve negotiated a set fee for a client, you can put that amount in the invoice budget area and check the box preventing you from exceeding that budget. Now, you won’t have to worry as you make time or expense entries because no matter what, your invoice will not go over the amount you budgeted for. You can always visit the budget tab within a matter and check to see your actuals v. budgeted and adjust as needed.

All of these simple budgeting tools in TimeSolv mean that you can know in advance what the matter will cost for your client and ensure you don’t exceed that budget either.

TimeSolv does have more elaborate matter planning tools that allow you to create phases and tasks and assign a specific budget for each one of those tasks. Read more about creating and managing your matter plan here.

If you’d like more help with setting up a matter budget, call us at 1.800.715.1284, email us at support@timesolv.com or Contact support.

Contact support

Don’t forget to register for our Wednesday Webinars where we review all the Tip of the Week posts from the past month. Our next Wednesday Webinar will be September 6 at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT.

Register now button

Stay up to date with the latest articles, educational resources, and news

Subscribe to our newsletter

You might also like

A male lawyer using a laptop, with AI-related icons overlaid on the image

Tackling Legal Issues with AI: A Guide for Modern Law Firms

Artificial intelligence holds the promise of improving various industries through smart...
A laptop screen displaying OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Utilizing ChatGPT for Lawyers: A Comprehensive Guide

Whether you’re a fan or not, generative AI is now a major presence in many industries...
5 Ways TimeSolvPay Streamlines Your Invoicing and Payments

What Is Accounts Payable? Key Insights for Law Firms

Understanding the financial health of a law firm is crucial, and a key aspect of this is...
Maximizing Profitability TimeSolv's Impact on Capturing Billable Minutes

Law Firm Finance: Accounts Payable vs. Accounts Receivable

Achieving financial stability is crucial for any law firm, and this often involves...
Effortless Collections TimeSolv's Role in Reducing AR to Zero

Streamlining Invoice Management: 5 Strategies for Legal Firms

Invoice management might appear to be a minor detail in the grand scheme of business...
A men smiling in front of his laptop.

Essential Legal Billing Guidelines for Your Practice

Receiving an unexpected or confusing bill after a successful case can quickly diminish...
Tip of the Week Entering a Payment Method with TimeSolv

Tip of the Week: Entering a Payment Method with TimeSolv

Taking control of your practice with TimeSolv is a fantastic start, but for a seamless...
Tip of the Week: Dive Deeper with TimeSolv's New Reports!

Tip of the Week: Dive Deeper with TimeSolv’s New Reports!

As an attorney, your time is your most valuable asset. But with a busy caseload, keeping...

Tip of the Week: Enhanced Flexibility with Consolidated Invoice Subtotals

This week's tip focuses on an exciting update to our ever-evolving invoicing system:...
TOTW Tip of the Week Mastering Draft Invoice Edits in TimeSolv

Tip of the Week: Mastering Draft Invoice Edits in TimeSolv

Ever stared at a draft invoice in TimeSolv, willing it to be perfect before hitting...